In what is one of the slowest cycles for a AAA game in recent memory, Bungie is slowly chipping away at issues in Destiny 2. It hasn't quite solved the content problem, given that the last two expansions were tiny and only introduced normal difficulty raid lairs (folks are already powering through the new one given that their item levels are raised), and I wouldn't even say the studio is getting there, but there have been several improvements since launch.

One of those is faction rallies, the typically ho-hum event where players pledge loyalty to one of three organizations, and reap rewards at the end of a fixed time period based on how well their faction performed. Factions pledging is now only once per account (instead of just pledging to all three via three characters), reputation is not reset after each season, factions now offer more unique rewards, and the timetable has been moved up to three events per season.

"Renown" is now a thing, which is earned by completing a public event/patrol/killing a high value target, which will in turn yield faction tokens while a renown aura is providing debuffs to players (less health regeneration, less damage). While renown is active, you can also see an aura (much like the one for Nightfalls in Destiny 1) that showcases a player's given faction.

It's...interesting! Now that you can only pledge to one faction though I'll probably be less inclined to play it. I get why it was done, but limiting the amount of stuff I can do across my alts isn't a way to get me to play the game more. There's a better system somewhere that encourages me to grind it out with all three characters.

Chris has been enjoying Destructoid avidly since 2008. He finally decided to take the next step, make an account, and start blogging in January of 2009. Now, he's staff! ------------------- T... more + disclosures

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